Illinois Everbearing Mulberry Tree Update. 6.5.18

 I originally planted this Illinois Everbearing Mulberry tree in my yard in Vancouver, WA,  as a mail order bare root tree, 3.18.2010.  In summer 2012, I dug it up and moved it to my new place in Battleground, WA.

This tree is one of my top 10 favorite orchard trees, now.  It bears prolific numbers of mulberries which are delicious, outstanding flavor and texture.  They ripen over about a month's time.  Despite many articles stating that birds love these mulberries, there are always many for me.

The leaves of this tree are a pale green.  Many times, people have commented that this tree must need some nitrogen.  If so, I am happy with the fruit bearing and size now, and don't want to over-fertilize it.  I think it's just a pale green leaf tree, however, and there is nothing wrong with it.

As happened last year and the year before, the branches are covered with the start of another excellent mulberry crop.

Illinois Everbearing Mulberry when planted, far right, 3.18.2010

Greenspire Linden Tree Update. 6.5.18

Greenspire Linden Today, 6.5.18

I planted this Greenspire Linden tree (Tilia cordata) Nov 4, 2012.   So it's been in this spot for 5 1/2 years.  Nice change.  It was one sided, so I planted so the "flat" side was to the south, expecting it would grow that direction and fill in.  It did.  I also removed a low branch on the North side, last year. 

I planted four Greenspire Linden trees in 2012.  They've all grown fast, into handsome, beautiful trees.  They bloom nicely, with fragrant linden flowers.   These were all end-of-season, on sale at Home Depot, root bound trees that I treated by cutting off all of the encircling roots, and loosening the roots and soil, before planting. 

When I planted these trees, I was doing beekeeping, which I subsequently gave up.  I had hoped for linden flower honey.  Despite no bees now, the trees are rewarding in and of themselves.  I love standing by these trees and looking up at how fast and strong they've grown, in such a short time.

Greenspire Linden when Planted.  11.4.12

Each fall, I move the container geraniums (pelargoniums) into a dry sunny spot for a month, under the house eaves.  No water.  By drying them out, they go dormant.  Then I move them into the garage, which does not freeze but is cool.  In the Spring, I move them back outside, trim them a little, and start watering again.  I give them some growing plant food (more nitrogen), then when they are recovered, they get some blooming plant food.  These geraniums are about 4 or 5 years old, becoming large and bushy.  Nice plants.  Some of the containers also contain 4=Four O'clocks or Nerines.  I might remove the Four O'clocks this year if they are too rangy.  I have some of those in the flower border as well.

In the other containers, I stuck some nasturtium seeds -partly for flower and partly for salads; orchids, and carnivorous plants.  The cactus was a grocery store nopale that I planted in cactus soil a couple of years ago, and keep in the sunroom during the winter.

Carnivorous Plants. 6.4.18

Venus Flytrap

 Here are selections from my carnivorous plant collection.  It's a modest collection.  I'm a beginner.

The Venus Flytrap is highly magnified.  It's only a couple of inches across. 

They've all been catching flies and yellow jackets.

I've been following Jacob's instructions, in his ebook.  so far, with these plants, that means mainly they re in a shallow container with about an inch of low mineral (rain) water, and are in full sun, on the deck.

Sarracenia purpurea, I think.  It was unlabeled.

A Sarracenia hybrid.

 At this point, these are mostly fairly small plants.  I expect that as time passes, they will grow larger.  As perennials, they should increase in size each year. 

More Sarracenia hybrids.

The large one is Sarracenia oreophilia, I think.

Kitchen Garden Progress Report. 6.4.18

Garlic.  6.4.18

Sweet Corn.  6.4.18

 Most of the kitchen garden is doing well.  The main problems have been herbivores.  I've worked on several solutions, and some of those have helped.

The garlic was browsed even in low wire fencing tunnels.  I thought that was deer, but maybe rabbits.  After spraying with deer deterrent spray, the browsing stopped.  That may have been the size of the plant, and not the spray.  I've given a couple of doses of fish emulsion, and am still watering the garlic plants.  In late winter, I had also spread some Milorganite.  Might have been too much.  The leaf tips have some browning, but otherwise the plants look robust.  I think the crop will be good.  The rotation for the garlic bed:  2 years ago, wild/weed/blackberry; last year, sweet corn, this year, garlic.

The first batches of sweetcorn look good.  I forget the name, the first was an early yellow cold tolerant variety.  The second bath was Trinity.  The third batch was also Trinity, but I don't know if it's growing.  I am using the low fencing tunnels on the sweet corn too, to inhibit browsing, and so far that seems to be working.  The rotation:  2 years ago, squash, last year, potato, this year, sweet corn.

Tomatoes.  6.4.18

The tomatoes are looking good.  these were grown from seeds too.  The location was the duck pen from this winter. Some are blooming and have small green tomatoes.  Many varieties.  I planted them deeply for better dry tolerance.  They had some Epsom Salts earlier to green up the leaves, and some fish emulsion, but now no more fertilizer.  They are fenced in to prevent deer browsing.  The rotation:  Three years ago, Squash.  Two years ago, sweet corn.  Last year, garlic.  This year, tomatoes.

Blue Potato Flower.  6.4.18

Potatoes.  6.4.18

The potatoes are looking better than almost anything else.   They are lush and green.  I used store bought starts, and also sprouted potatoes from the garage.  There are Burbank Russet, Yukon Gold, Blue, and some I don't know from the sprouted ones.   This year I planted in trenches, which I filled in as they grew, because I found that hilling them up seemed to require more watering.  The trenches don't shed water.  The first batch had some frost kill, but otherwise they all tolerated early planting and are growing very nicely.   I did use some Milorganite when planting them, otherwise no fertilizer.  The rotation:  Two years ago, Indian Corn, last year, onions, this year, potatoes.

There are lots of other things.  The rabbits and/or deer have browsed the onions so heavily, I don't think there will be much of a crop.  The low fencing tunnels were not enough to prevent browsing, and the rabbit/deer deterrent spray was minimally helpful.  I still have my doubts about the chili peppers, which so far look stunted.  I've given them some Epsom salts and fish emulsion, we'll see.  The gladiolas, zinnias, and marigolds are looking pretty good now too.